


Devil's Advocate

by SocialDisease609



Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Coups, F/F, Limbo, Magic, Mind Games, One sided love at first sight, Prison, Survival, Torture, don't want to overwhelm tags, falling in love with the enemy - Freeform, semi-darkchylde Illyana, will probably add tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:42:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29922567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SocialDisease609/pseuds/SocialDisease609
Summary: After the X-Men fail an attempt to assist magical allies in staging a coup in Limbo, Kitty is left behind in the chaos of the retreat. Putting faith in the belief that she will be emergency extracted in no time, Kitty does what she can to stay alive, and perhaps, finish the mission.(AU where Illyana does not remember her childhood on Earth, and has been successfully indoctrinated by Belasco into thinking she's a Limbo-born demon sorceress. She is willingly preparing to become Belasco's heir and inherit Limbo when her time comes- only for Kitty to start dismantling his conditioning...)
Relationships: Kitty Pryde/Illyana Rasputin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Devil's Advocate

**Author's Note:**

> Things to note to make this story work: Piotr never left Russia and was never an X-Men. Therefore, Kitty has no pior connection to Rasputins.

This was going a lot worse than they all had planned. They knew it would be tough, they knew it would be one of the fights of their lives, but _this_? This was hopeless.

Swarms and swarms of demons crashed into them mere minutes after they arrived, and while Kitty and her allies had held their own at the dawn of battle, they all were exhausted by now. They hadn’t made a dent in the waves of demons, as each fallen creature would be replaced within seconds by another vengeful one.

There were horrid shrieks and cackles filling the searing dry air, and their target, Belasco, stood smiling down upon them from a jagged precipice of black rock above them.

Kitty grunted as she shrugged off a demon that tried to jump on her. Keeping her body turned with the movement, she plunged a dagger deep within its ribs, its hot black blood burning her hand like oil. She withdrew the blade, determined to focus on another target now. This one would bleed out in a matter of seconds, no need to wait and see.

As she scanned her horizon for a brief second before engaging her new opponent, she took stock of the field.

Scott burned through ranks of demons with his crimson sight, but could only do so when demons weren’t clawing up his back and biting his legs. Kitty would catch sight in her peripherals of random beams of red, bursting for brief seconds into the sky, towards the left, towards the right- frantic aim. He was becoming overrun.

Jean had started out well too, using her psychic powers to freeze many demons in place, setting up easy pieces for the team to clear, but the demons had caught on, and sent unique demons her way- those specializing in illusion magic and psychic intrusion. She was now fending for herself instead of freezing the field.

Logan was doing alright, tearing away with his seemingly boundless vitality, but the demons were learning how to control him too, sending large beasts his way, some the size of dragons.

Kurt was fencing away, slashing foes with elegance, but the heavy heave of his chest signaled his weariness. He tried to teleport to his allies, helping them recover themselves, but it was spreading him thin.

Ororo had taken to the skies to strike lightning upon the waves below, but had met resistance with winged demons, doing everything they could to rip her away with their talons.

The sorcerers they had accompanied were faltering too, their magic weak and fizzling.

Kitty ran the mission brief through her mind, trying to figure out how it was supposed to work if it was actually going like this: Kill Belasco and install sorcerer Gregori Edel. Why? Belasco, current ruler of Limbo was organizing a massive army of demons to invade the land Above, Kitty’s dimension. It was supposed to be easy: sneak in, assassinate Belasco by Gregori's hand, and problem solved. Demons answered to power, and the best way to avoid war Above was not to decimate the army, but to decapitate the general. 

However, stealth was an overestimated tactic.

Kitty looked around for Gregori as she held a demon tight to her, her blade deep in its neck, denying it the chance to run away. The sorcerer was doing his best, sparks of magical discs glowing on his fingertips , but sweat dampening his grey hair and beading down his temples.

“Gregori!” she shouted, dropping the demonic corpse to her feet. He cast his eyes in her direction for a brief second, not wanting to be distracted for too long. “Let's end this!”

He nodded in understanding, standing his ground launching spells in chaotic arcs, disintegrating demons as they stood. Kitty charged in his direction and set her body to phase, should she meet resistance. In a swift motion, she grabbed his hand and phased him with her.

Without another word, she ran forward, cutting through the snarling and rotting army of demons. She felt a strong sensation of fever chills as she did so, their corrupted forms sickening her body.

Belasco was looking down at them, and Kitty felt her stomach twist. They would catch his attention of course, who wouldn’t notice someone running through- literally _through_ \- an army unscathed? He muttered something from the top of his peak, but of course the chaos of battle and distance made it impossible to hear. But it must had been a command, because someone came to stand next to him.

A young woman with long blond hair and towering horns cast her glance down at Kitty and Gregori, her face completely indifferent. She wore an intriguing combination of armor and sorcerer’s robes, but Kitty assumed she was more than just a battle mage.

But there was no time to worry about new pieces on the board. She had to get Gregori to Belasco, where he could duel him properly. Kitty would deal with this woman herself.

Out of instinct, Gregori took a deep breath as they phased into the base of the mountain rock, as if he were taking a plunge into a pool. Kitty paid no mind to the natural blindness that came with phasing into solids, as her mutation gave her an incredible sense of depth perception, knowing just where the top, bottom, east, west- all sides of this body of rock ended and met air. She began to ascend them effortlessly up the rock and with exciting luck, emerged out of the rock right behind Belasco. His ally however was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she had begun her decent to join the battle below.

“Belasco!” Gregori shouted, standing tall and courageous. In this moment, Kitty could see why the Sanctum had appointed him. His aura felt like a natural leader.

Belasco turned around, curious but unafraid.

“Gregori Edel,” he began, folding his hands behind his back. “Is it you they’ve picked to challenge me? I pity your Sanctum. They all must be cowards of they thought _you_ were the best choice. I can think of at least twenty other sorcerers would have made a better fit.”

“Your childish jeers won’t deter me, Belasco,” Gregori said firmly, “Your reign ends today.”

“I’m afraid you’re wrong,” Belasco smiled fiendishly. “You cannot beat me, and if you do, you cannot beat _her_.”

A chill went down Kitty’s spine, suspecting who he meant.

Then, in the flash of a second, magic cracked from both men's finger. Kitty jumped aside to be away from the shrapnel of jagged rock caused by each missed spell. She wanted to watch the duel, she wanted to watch the battle below, but she knew he part in this spontaneous plan: keep the duel clear of other players. She would not allow anyone else to interfere.

The demons below must have sensed the clash between sorcerers above, as many began to make their way up the rock, where they met Kitty, who was ready and in all honesty, terrified.

She phased with excellent timing, monstrous arms and jaws falling through her body as the demons tried to attack her. With her transitioning so rapidly between being solid and intangible, she was able to strike well time blows to her attackers tearing ears and slabs of skin with each slice of her dagger. Kitty's heart beat with a newfound confidence, her eyes calculating each change of the battlefield as rapidly as they happened.

Behind her, she could hear the duel behind her, both men grunting and cursing as the feat required much of them.

“You’ve got this, Gregori!” Kitty grunted in encouragement, not turning around but staying focused on each demon that dared run up to challenge her.

“Foolish girl! Be gone!” shouted Belasco from behind her.

Instinctually, Kitty turned around and saw Belasco prime a blast of energy her way. In true heroic fashion, however, Gregori threw himself in its path. The blast of magic was tremendous, sending the sorcerer’s heavy body crashing into Kitty, both of them tumbling across the jagged ground at least twenty feet away.

Struggling to get up, Kitty’s left shin cried for her attention, and she cast a glance to it, seeing that the sharp rock floor had torn through her uniform and shredded her skin, small sheets of rock embedded in her bloody muscle.

Groggily, Gregori shook himself back to his senses.

“Ms. Pryde, are you okay?” He asked, his throat rough from the pain.

“I’ve had worse,” Kitty reassured truthfully. “Don’t worry about me.”

“I said leave, girl!” Belasco roared, coming back into view. “Go join your crew. Die amongst them, unless you want to see me tear Gregori’s head from his shoulders.” He lobbed another spell from his hands, but Gregori deflected with a ward spell, the magic shattering like a firework.

“Listen,” Kitty grunted with irritation, “I was going to just let you guys do your thing, but now I’m just gonna have to join the fight.”

“Don’t play the innocent bystander, the fact that you’re here to assist him makes you just as much a threat as him,” Belasco sneered.

“Well come on then,” Kitty taunted, bearing her dagger.

“You think a blade will take me down?”

“I think anything can take anyone down,” Kitty said, “You just gotta find the right way to do it.”

Belasco spared no further time, clearly annoyed with her banter, and lobbed a spell her way, casting down like a meteor. Kitty side-stepped, not too sure how her mutation would hold against magic, and today was not the right day to experiment.

Gregori took control after that, putting himself between her and Belasco. While Kitty understood his intentions, she wished he saw her as an equal partner and not a liability to protect. Spell after spell, both sorcerers made for the kill, but they were quite the equal. In fact, in the rumble, Kitty found herself back on demon duty, dealing her own lethal damage. In the background Kitty could catch glimpses of Scott’s beams or Storm’s lightning bolts, and it softened her fear to know her team was going strong.

_Just a few more minutes, guys_ , Kitty hoped to herself. _Just a few more minutes…_

But her hope extinguished like a solitary candle as she heard a cry of pain.

“Gregori!” She shouted, knowing deep in the pit of her stomach that it came from him.

She turned around to see the sorcerer on his knees, thick blood pouring from his mouth as he tried to get back up on his feet, but he was too disoriented. His left ribcage was stained burgundy with blood and the fabric of his robes were torn. Judging by the quick glance, Kitty could only assume that Belasco had impaled him with a spell.

In the distance she could hear the roar and hyena-like laughter of demons get louder.

“There’s too many!” She could hear someone cry out.

“Where do they keep coming from?” Shouted another.

Kitty felt despair rush in and surround her.

“Go…” Gregori murmured. “Tell the others…” blood pooled on the ground from his wound like syrup, “Tell them to retreat… We need… we can’t…”

“Gregori…” Kitty murmured in sorrow.

“You heard the man,” Belasco grinned. He had been simply watching up until now, relishing in his fatal blow. He began to take steps closer to Gregori. “Get out of here. Leave before you belong here forever. And never come back.” He placed his hand on the top of Gregori’s head and his fingers began to grip with inhuman strength. Gregori began to wince and groan in pain, and Kitty could hear subtle cracking.

“Retreat!” She heard herself shout. “Retreat!” It didn’t even sound like her, it all felt out of body. She didn’t want to retreat. She wanted to save Gregori, she wanted to end all this and go home, everyone safe and sound. But not every mission would end that way. Logan had told her that more than once, against the Professor’s optimistic judgement. Death… Kitty found herself realizing that she would never get used to it, never become numb to it.

Belasco grinned victoriously, raising his eyes to meet Kitty’s, holding her gaze, and crushed Gregori’s head underneath the strength of his fingers. Kitty screamed instinctively at the sight, her mind shaken by the cruelty and gore, but what she did next surprised her most of all.

They say you don’t know what a person is capable of until they’re faced with death, and while there’s nothing wrong with wanting to run away and live another day, Kitty found herself charging forward, her dagger raised and crashed into Belasco. They tumbled to the ground but Kitty’s frantic response to Gregori’s death was still thrumming in her veins and she raised her piece again and plunged it downwards, stabbing Belasco in the arm he used to shield himself. She raised it multiple times, the small blade puncturing the flesh of his arm repeatedly. Gathering his bearings, Belasco thrust her off with a blast of power from his hand. She scrambled to her feet, struggling for a second due to her injury. She needed to get back to him, finish the job. There may not be a Gregori to take over, but there were other sorcerers. She couldn’t leave Belasco in power.

She could hear the words of her fellow X-Men below, repeating the order to retreat, and their voices were getting farther away. But she had to finish the job…

Belasco was dragging himself away from her, more concerned about the damage to his arm than her advancing once more. But then Kitty stopped. Her fervor had run its course and she found herself grounded in the situation. Her arm lowered the dagger… doubt and hesitation bled into her mind.

_You should run_ , her mind told her. _You need to leave with everyone else. You might not make it out alive if you charge him again…_

“What are you waiting for?” asked a cold voice behind her.

Startled Kitty turned around and saw the woman from earlier. She held a flaming blue sword in hand, but it wasn’t poised in offense. Her demeanor was more curious than ready for battle, save for how firm her feet were planted.

“Stay back,” Kitty warned, holding her dagger up defensively, as if that would hold up to the enchanted weapon. “You won’t be able to cut me…”

“Perhaps,” the woman agreed, taking slow steps forward. “I’ve seen what you can do…”

“Illyana!” Belasco shouted in relief. “Help me!”

Kitty cast a quick glance over her shoulder, watching him get up gingerly. This was not a good position. She had an opponent on each side, she had to do something quick. But just as Kitty thought about phasing back down the body of the rock, the woman with the magnificent horns raised both her hands up in a peculiar fashion, like she was holding a marionette, and Kitty felt her body stiffen and numb.

“What?” Kitty murmured to herself, looking down at her body. Nothing was holding her, no vines or ropes, so why couldn’t she move? Why couldn’t she phase?

This _Illyana_ brought her hands together, then pulled them apart as if she were tugging on two ends of a string, and that’s when Kitty saw it. Like a spider’s web, faint strings held her in place, only noticeable when the firelight of Limbo shimmered it like gold. It was around her wrists, her elbows and shoulders, her neck and her torso. It gripped her knees in countless bounds and stung against her damaged leg as it held her ankles firm.

“What have you done to me?” Kitty demanded to know, her heart pounding in fear. She had forgotten the fear of being restrained, of losing this sense of control.

“I wasn’t sure that was going to work,” Illyana said, smiling proudly to herself. “Things pass through you, you can’t be harmed by a blade. But I’ve trapped your shadow…”

Kitty cast her eyes to her left, where her silhouette was cast against the wall of another tall body of rock. It shimmered with golden bonds more prominent than the strings of silk that captured her physical form.

“Magic is a beautiful thing,” Belasco grunted, holding his injured arm, coming to stand behind Illyana. “It cares not for mutation.” He then flashed an ugly grin of satisfaction Kitty’s way.

“Retreat into the Citadel,” Illyana directed to Belasco, her clear blue eyes watching Kitty struggle. 

Kitty noticed a twitch in Belasco’s smile. Was he irked by Illyana’s command?

“I will be preparing a healing spell,” Belasco chose to say, grunting for a moment as pain seized him. “You know where you’ll find me. Lock her in the dungeons, we'll have some fun with her when I’m healed.”

“Yes, Master,” Illyana obeyed instantly.

His smile returned to his lips at her words, then he turned, walking away before opening a portal for his escape.

“Let me go,” Kitty instantly urged, still squirming with no luck.

Illyana said nothing, but began to walk forward, slowly wrapping the golden thread around her hand like a reel. She was strangely gently as she did so, moving calmly and without haste. As she got closer, Illyana’s eyes purposely sought Kitty's for a brief second, curious, as if the answer to whatever question was in her mind was trapped behind Kitty’s brown eyes. But this moment was only a mere flash of a second before she continued to secure Kitty in her restraints.

“Kitty! There you are!” Kurt appeared in a startling cloud of indigo. “Let’s go! We’re all almost out! Where’s Grego-” his words stopped in his throat as he comprehended the entire scene before him: Gregori mutilated, lifeless on the ground- Kitty frozen in place, and a horned woman who quickly raised her blade to Kitty’s throat.

“Turn away,” Illyana threatened, baring her teeth. “Leave with the rest of the invaders.”

Swallowing to steady himself, Kurt raised his rapier. “I won’t leave without her.”

“She has made a direct attempt on Belasco’s life- we will have her here to answer for her actions. _You_ will leave,” Illyana growled. “I will not offer mercy again.”

Kurt opened his mouth to retort, but Illyana’s patience truly was wearing thin. She raised her blade to Kitty’s throat.

“She’ll phase,” Kurt informed defensively.

“Is that so?” Illyana laughed. “Is that why she’s _phased_ out of her bindings? I think she’s met her match with magic.”

Kurt flinched forward, but Illyana checked him with a quick slice against Kitty’s neck, making a cut just an inch.

Kitty gasped, the shock and fear covering most of the pain. The warm blood ran down her neck, and the phaser came face to face with the fact that she was powerless, completely trapped by this woman’s spell.

“ _Go_ ,” Illyana growled once more, her voice frighteningly deep, like those of the demons beneath them in the battlefield. Shivers went through Kitty’s body upon hearing it, feeling so disoriented by it.

“Just go Kurt,” Kitty urged, her teeth beginning to chatter from wavering courage. “Do as she says. Get to safety.”

“Kitty…” Kurt whispered in disbelief, taking unwanted steps back. “But-”

“Come back for me,” Kitty begged as mildly as she could, struggling to keep her fear at bay.

“We will,” Kurt frowned heavily. “I promise.”

“There’ll be nothing of her left,” Illyana grinned maliciously. “Learn from your mistakes, never come back here again.”

* * *

Illyana had put good distance between them and the fleeing X-Men immediately after Kurt’s heart-breaking retreat. Without wasting a second, she wrapped a hand around Kitty’s waist and tipped her over her shoulder, carrying her as if she were Cleopatra in a carpet. She had done some bizarre hand motion over her trapped shadow, the source of her bindings, and was able to separate Kitty from her anchor in the sheetrock but still keep her retrained by the faint golden threads. Kitty muttered and cursed in what pride she had left, wanting it to be known that even though she was tied up, she hadn’t surrendered.

But Illyana didn’t carry her far, and opened up what Kitty could only assume was a teleportation disc. It looked a lot different than the sorcerers at the Sanctum, given the complete absence of runes, but it worked just as effortlessly, and within the blink of an eye, Kitty took in her new surroundings.

Her heart plummeted as she recognized she was in a dungeon. It’s not like she expected to taken to a five star resort, but it was a lot easier to be braver out on the battlefield than in an enclosed space with no allies to rely on.

Casually Illyana walked on down the dark stone corridor with Kitty still over her shoulder, passing cells that were surprisingly full of inmates. Kitty took stock of them as they went by, noting a variety of those who seemed to be human and those weren’t. There were cries of agony every second, echoing and overlapping over each other like a haunting choir.

Illyana pushed open a cell door with ease and took a step in, placing Kitty delicately on her bottom.

“You will stay here,” the demon sorceress told her nonchalantly. “Depending on how his healing spell goes, Belasco may be down here before the day is done. We will decide how swift your fate will be then.”

“What about my binds?” Kitty asked. “You’re not going to untie me?”

Illyana laughed in a strangely hearty manner. “Until I figure out how to keep you restrained in a better way, you will have to stay the way you are.”

She didn’t bother to say more, and removed herself from the cell. To her surprise, Kitty noticed that the woman had a tail. It was covered for the most part by her mage robes, but the tip held itself just an inch or two above the ground, curling red and spear-tipped.

* * *

Kitty didn’t know how long it took for Belasco to make his way down, as there really wasn’t a way to keep track of time in her cell (a purposeful inconvenience, Kitty thought), but she spent the time in between trying to wriggle out of her bindings, to loosen them enough and hopefully phase through, but no luck. The wound on her shin was burning and when she cast a look down, saw that it was still bleeding, and the pieces of rock that had been embedded were turning the injured skin around it a dark purple. Kitty wished she could start pulling the pieces out and clean her wound, but even if her hands were free, she couldn’t see any water in sight. She didn’t even want to think about the wound in her neck.

“Good evening, Ms. Pryde!” Came a voice.

Kitty immediately looked up and across the way, past her cell bars, seeing Belasco and Illyana return. She expected Belasco to arrive healed, as he did, but what she didn’t expect was Illyana arriving without her horns or her tail. She seemed just like any ordinary sorcerer, and Kitty’s mind perked at the mystery.

“That’s right,” Belasco continued, as Kitty had been paying attention to him and not Illyana. “I know who you are. I know all about you.”

Kitty turned her attention to Belasco, sneering.

“We know all about your time in Illinois, Xavier’s training in New York…” Belasco pulled a vial out from an inside pocket in his robes. The liquid in it was light purple and trapped by a cork stopper. “Yana, if you please?”

Illyana simply lifted a hand and unlocked the cell door with a spell. Belasco entered and undid the stopper. Kitty groaned at not being able to shimmy away as he knelt before her.

“Stay away,” She warned, despite her position.

Belasco smiled with mock sympathy and pressed his finger against the small opening of the vial and tipped it over. He then righted the vial and handed it to Illyana, who stood behind him. She stopped it and pocked it within her own robes. Belasco reached over with both hands for Kitty’s mouth, to which the phaser tried to suck her lips in, but he was still able to pull her bottom lip out and rub the finger coated in the serum on her lower gums. Quickly, Kitty tried to spit the serum out, but she could feel it already tingling into her entire jaw and rapidly down her neck, coming for her shoulders next. Within seconds Kitty felt completely paralyzed.

“The spell, Ilya,” Belasco urged impatiently.

Illyana flicked another careless finger Kitty’s way and the golden bands fizzled away. Desperately, Kitty willed herself to phase, but it was no use.

“Much better,” Belasco grinned proudly, standing up. “I like them helpless.”

“It isn’t a permanent solution,” Illyana noted, folding her arms, not impressed.

Belasco raised an irritated eyebrow as he cast a look in her direction for a second before looking back at Kitty.

“Nothing to worry about,” Belasco commented, “I shall have her executed in the morning.”

“Then she should have just stayed in my bindings,” Illyana continued. “What difference does it make if she can’t move with a binding spell or a paralysis tonic?”

“What difference indeed,” Belasco growled. “She is my prisoner and I will do with her as I please! This is better. She’ll be able to feel, but won’t be able to move. Your bindings would have at least had her squirming around!”

Illyana made no further comment but pursed her lips in disapproval.

“What are you going to do to me?” Kitty asked. She was surprised she could still speak- and in honesty, breath and blink. But she knew very little about magic and alchemy, she wouldn’t be able to tell what was normal.

“Extract information from you,” Illyana answered, looking coolly at Kitty. Belasco had opened his mouth to answer, but the sorceress had beat him to it. “Once we have what we need, we will have no further need of you.”

“I won’t tell you anything,” Kitty muttered, willing her toes to feel lively again. “You’re going to kill my anyway in the morning, I’m sure I can hold out.”

Illyana raised an eyebrow, and Kitty couldn’t tell if she was annoyed or impressed.

“You see, Ms. Pryde,” Belasco started, trying to regain the spotlight, “Limbo specializes in elongated torture. We could work on you for just five minutes and you'd swear a few hours have gone by. I doubt you’ll last an hour.”

“Two,” Illyana wagered, her eyes squinting in calculation.

“Two?” Belasco chuckled. “Maybe an hour and _ten minutes_! But we’re not hear to gamble on the limits of the human being, Ilya, we have a purpose tonight! Please, her leg!”

Illyana stepped forward and knelt beside Kitty. She tore at the fabric of her uniform, completely exposing her leg below the knee. Her blue eyes studied the wound before she held a hand out next to her, to which a small box materialized and plopped onto her palm.

“What are you doing?” Kitty asked, worry obvious in her tone.

“Cleaning your wound,” Illyana answered. Gingerly, she pulled out the chips of sheetrock, which hurt in itself, but Kitty grit her teeth as the woman worked, not wanting to seem like she could be broken by a scrape to the leg. After she withdrew all the pieces, Illyana dug in her box for clean rags and other vials. She gently wiped Kitty’s wound clean of dirt and dried blood, and for a moment, Kitty felt relaxed. She knew she was moments away from torture, and perhaps this was the start of some strange good cop / bad cop routine, but Illyana’s soft hands and gentle wipes of her cotton rags, dabbed in a cooling tonic helped her fortify herself for what was to come.

“Enough, Illyana,” Belasco groaned with impatience. “You are to prepare her for torture, not nurse her to health. I could have used those pieces! I could have pressed them further into her wound!”

Illyana didn’t respond, but her brows knit at his words. She began inspecting the cut on Kitty’s neck, cleaning this one with the same amount of care.

“Illyana!” Belasco now bellowed. Illyana sighed but stopped her work, putting her tools back in her box and standing up.

“Yes, Master,” Illyana said. “I thought having her be as close to top health as possible would be better suited for your desires.”

Belasco’s jaw shifted as he heard her words, but he shook his head. “No, I want to capitalize on what she is already suffering. We don’t need to aid her in any way!” He yanked Illyana behind him, even though she was already moving there anyway. Belasco didn’t see it, but Kitty did, a look of anger flashing in her seemingly stoic eyes.

He knelt back down and summoned his own box. Kitty didn’t have to be a genius to suspect there wouldn’t be any medicine in it. He opened the lid and pulled out another vial, one of many, and this one seemed to be full of tiny white crystals.

“Salt,” Belasco informed. “Illyana is concerned about your wounds,” he purred, “She wants to clean them, soothe them… I can help you heal. I’ve heard people say salt is a healing agent, but not all agree.” He uncapped the vial and began to pour a generous pile in the palm of his hand. “Tell me, Ms. Pryde, does it soothe your wound or corrode it?”

He then turned his hand quickly upside down and pressed the large grains of salt on top of her shin, rubbing the crystals up and down the full length of her shin. Kitty’s eyes instantly widened as the pain shot through her and she screamed, and she growled- the pain was a horrible burn, and it felt like it was acid making its way in her veins.

Belasco laughed as he watched her cry out in agony, and his laughter only became deeper when he saw, to his surprise, that the pain was so severe, Kitty was actually able to jolt her body in agony a few times, despite the paralysis tonic.

“She’s a strong one,” Belasco noted with sick entertainment. “Probably’s got a fast metabolism too, hand me the vial again, I need her to not gain control of her body. She must not phase away.” 

Illyana did not obey. She kept her arms crossed over her chest as she watched Kitty now begin to cry involuntarily.

“Illyana!” Belasco growled, a vein bulging in his neck.

“No,” Illyana replied, “Too much can be lethal. Routine mechanisms like breathing and heartrate may cease.”

Belasco scoffed.

“Do you want her alive to kill in the morning, or do you want her dead now?” Illyana asked, not bothering to hide the glare in her eyes.

“ _God_ …” Kitty groaned through gritted teeth.

“Fine!” Belasco then turned back to Kitty. “It seems my heir has a habit of saving your skin. No matter, she’s only doing what’s best for _me_.” He then wrapped a hand around Kitty’s neck and squeezed. Kitty could see the insanity and perversion behind his eyes as he watched her struggle for a breath. He then pressed his thumb against her cut, pulling the skin down, inciting small micro-tearing at the edges. Kitty cried out a strangled sound, unable to scream from lack of air.

“ _Master_ ,” came Illyana’s voice again. “We must _question_ her.”

Before Belasco could pout or chide Illyana for yet another interruption, Illyana continued, this time turning her focus to Kitty.

“Why was there an attempt to overthrow Belasco’s reign of Limbo?” She asked, her eyes following a tear down Kitty’s cheek. “The Sanctum has had problems with us before, naturally, but you- the _X-Men_ were an unexpected variable. What does your team have to gain in all this, and who are you?”

Grateful for the distraction, which caused Belasco to loosen his grip on her neck, Kitty answered willfully. “We’re made up of mutants, we only want peace and co-existence with humans.”

“So, you put yourself in danger in hopes of winning humanity’s favor?” Illyana asked for clarification.

Kitty nodded weakly, though she didn’t really like the way she put it, even though it was the truth.

“So you X-Men sought an alliance with the Sanctum then,” Belasco suggested. “Joined them on their quest to kill me?”

Kitty felt a heavy and miserable wave of fatigue. Her head fell forward as a result of it, but Belasco grabbed her by her put-up hair and yanked it back. She groaned at the sudden jerk.

“What more can you do?” Illyana asked. “We know you’re intangible at will, but what more can you do?”

Kitty felt herself frown, her energy draining rapidly and her mind getting cloudy.

“Answer!” Belasco shouted, hitting her at the back of her head. “What about the others? Tell me everything about the rest of them!”

It now dawned on Kitty that she was going to die. She heard Belasco and Illyana say it, but up until this point, she had hope. But she didn’t know when the X-Men would try again, or if the Sanctum would open a portal for them to come get her at all. She had probably less than twelve hours left to live, and it was going to stay miserable to the very end.

She looked at Illyana with her brown eyes, full of sorrow and dismay, but said “I’m not going to tell you anything else anymore. Just kill me.”

Illyana tilted her head at this, and maybe she felt something, but it didn’t matter.

Belasco had taken these words with relish, and began to inflict all kinds of pain upon her, mostly magic. He joyously spent hours breaking her bones and resetting them instantly, twisting her organs or piercing them to pool blood within her abdomen, only to cast another spell to heal everything. She knew it was only a few hours, but it felt like days, and Kitty spent them all being introduced to pain she didn’t even know existed.

Kitty was exhausted and her body felt so sore and heavy. Sweat was beading down the side of her temples and all over her body, the pain and exertion making her feel feverish with chills. Illyana on the other hand, spent the whole incident watching, her arms still crossed, her eyes void of emotion.

After each act of torture, Kitty still didn’t give Belasco what he wanted. He gained no intel from her, and only felt pleasured at her cries of pain, which only got more and more feeble as the hours passed on. Somewhere in her mind, Kitty wondered if a truth spell existed, and why it hadn’t been casted, but as he put fire under the soles of her shoes, she knew why: Belasco was a monster, so blinded by the lust of causing pain to others that the actual objective didn’t matter.

Eventually, Belasco had his fill. Kitty had never felt such a strange sense of relief in her life, and a sense of pride knowing she had endured it all. It didn’t mean anything in the long run- hurray for surviving torture, you’re going to get executed here in a bit. But she was impressed at what her body could take.

He looked down at her with disgust, as if he hadn’t spent the past few hours pushing her to inhuman limits and cruelty. 

“Put her back in her binds, just in case,” he ordered Illyana. “I’ll see you upstairs.”

“Yes, Master,” Illyana said lowly.

Belasco left without another word. Walking over to Kitty, Illyana knelt down. She took hold of Kitty’s chin gently and angled the phaser’s face left and right, inspecting the damage. Kitty made no noise, no attempt to jerk her face out of Illyana’s hand. She just let her look. She was too tired, too defeated to care about anything else at this point.

Illyana pursed her lips in dissatisfaction as she continued to inspect Kitty’s form.

“He’s healed mostly everything,” Illyana informed. Her voice was immediately pleasant to Kitty’s ears, and it might have been because there was no tone of interrogation carried on it. “Even your shin scrape is gone. But your body has gone through a lot, you will be feeling very sore for the next few days.”

“Next few days?” Kitty whispered, her voice hoarse from crying and screaming.

Illyana smiled as if she got caught saying something funny, “Until your execution, excuse me,” Illyana corrected.

Kitty rolled her eyes weakly, not in the mood for jokes.

“Here,” Illyana spoke once more.

Kitty watched Illyana’s hands move to her robes and pulled out another vile. Limbo sorcerers and their viles! This one was a light blue color, so Kitty knew it wasn’t the paralysis tonic. Illyana repeated the same steps Belasco did: unstop the bottle, press finger against opening, tip the bottle, etc.

Kitty tried to move away, but was out of energy now. Her body was thrumming and radiating pain, she had no stamina to spare in anything beside feeling all the hurt. Illyana gently pulled Kitty’s bottom lip out so she could rub her finger on the inside of it.

This time, instead of feeling her body tingle with paralysis, she felt a numbing relief. All the pain and soreness seemed to wash away and Kitty closed her eyes in instinctive appreciation. When she opened them again, Illyana was already making her way out the cell, and with a flick of her finger over her shoulder, sealed it to lock.

A wavy sense of fatigue rushed her, and Kitty let a few more tears slip down her cheeks before she flopped onto the ground to recline. Taking a shaking breath, she muttered a prayer that her soul wouldn’t stay down here after her death, and then, when sleep began to pull her under, she realized something:

Illyana hadn’t put her in her binds.

* * *

Kitty could only imagine that it was finally morning-time when the cell door creaked open.

For a few seconds, Kitty actually thought she was waking up back home, but when her body registered the stone floor below her, rough against her hip and shoulder, the cries of agony in the distance, she remembered and she wanted to cry.

“So, it’s morning then?” Kitty asked blandly. She cast her eyes up to see Illyana standing in the threshold, looking down at her, a look of puzzlement on her face before it changed back to its famous neutrality.

“It is,” Illyana answered.

Kitty nodded and closed her eyes again. She found herself not wanting to die even though last night she had made peace with it. She hoped that peace would come again. She did not want to approach the gallows, or wherever she was going, a coward.

“You’ll be relieved to know that Belasco is away,” Illyana then projected her voice.

Kitty’s brows knit and her eyes opened, confused. “Away? But he’s supposed to execute me today? He seemed pretty excited about it, doubt he’d want to miss it.”

Illyana seemed to giggle, and that only confused Kitty further.

“He had some pressing business to attend to,” Illyana continued to inform. “He was notified but an hour ago. Might have something to do with your failed coup?”

Kitty knew Illyana was probably just trying to draw information from her, but she couldn’t help but hope that her X-Men had come back to save her.

“What do you mean? He didn’t tell you why?” Kitty asked, sitting up.

Illyana gave her an offended look. “Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that he is away, and has left me in his stead, until his return, which is undetermined.”

“What does that mean for me?” Kitty asked, registering the soreness all over her body, wincing in discomfort. Subtly, she tested her phasing in the heel of her left foot. With a spark of joy, she could feel it sink just half an inch. It hurt to do so, but she could do it…

“In Belasco’s Limbo, you are his prisoner,” Illyana smiled and took a step into the cell. To Kitty’s surprise, she reached a hand down. “In _my_ Limbo, you shall be my guest.” 


End file.
